Amid all of the hype for Overwatch and other big multiplayer shooter titles coming out this year, we couldn’t help but feel like we had to give Motiga’s upcoming MOBA-shooter, Gigantic, some time in the spotlight. The game got very little press due to rather enigmatic non-disclosure agreement, which prevented players from uploading footage of the game online. But that might all change now. On Wednesday, Motiga announced that they will be teaming up with Perfect World Entertainment to produce Gigantic.
Watch Gigantic’s trailer below:
Gigantic, which was previously only playable on Windows 10 and Xbox One, will now be coming to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. The 64-bit version will also be released alongside the final Windows 10 and Xbox One versions of the game.
Today we’re excited and proud to announce our new partnership with Perfect World Entertainment.
This partnership is a huge step for Motiga, as it allows us to continue working towards realizing the vision the development team had for Gigantic – a great competitive online game. Even more so, it accelerates opportunities for Gigantic by having more resources available to us. One of the biggest is being worked on already: an opportunity to bring Gigantic to as many versions of Windows as possible. That’s right; we’re developing a version of the game that will be playable on every 64-bit Windows operating system. This version will be made available through Perfect World’s Arc games platform, which is available on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10. Furthermore, the 64-bit version of Gigantic will be released on the same day as the Xbox One and Windows 10 App Store versions. This will help us introduce Gigantic to a larger audience much quicker than we originally anticipated!
But as we’ve explored in the past with Warframe, Perfect World’s name tends to strike dread in the hearts of PC gamers. Aggressive monetization schemes and microtransactions galore come to mind when Perfect World’s name is uttered. To some, Perfect World has the Faustian reputation of salvaging foundering games at the cost of their integrity.
Today, though, Motiga and Perfect World conducted an AMA on Gigantic’s subreddit to ease the fears of its playerbase, as well as to share some juicy info on upcoming public beta tests.
In response to the following question by Reddit user Miggoh,
PWE is known for extremely aggressive monetization. What do you guys have in store for Gigantic?
Perfect World Communications Manager tiopenyo replied that, as publisher, Perfect World will be helping Motiga bring Gigantic to a larger market. Though tiopenyo acknowledged that Gigantic is a fertile grounds for monetization, they stated that it will not be predatory to Gigantic’s main focus: fun.
Our focus as PWE is to help bring Gigantic to market and make it accessible to the players. To pull back to the curtain some more, our goal with Gigantic and the launch is very strongly focused on fun. Let’s partner with Motiga to continue the development of something that we as gamers in the company would be proud of and want to play. Monetization will make sense for the game. Our goal is to not have that be predatory to the core values of the game.
Miggoh didn’t seem to be satisfied by tionpenyo’s answer. In fact, many of the questions in the thread revolve around Perfect World’s reputation for “aggressive monetization” practices, though neither tiopenyo’s answers nor the answers of Motiga staff members directly address the issue.
Not all’s shifty in the world of Gigantic, though. The next public beta test for Gigantic is projected to be around “early-to-mid summer,” for Windows 10, Xbox One, and Perfect World’s DRM platform, Arc. This testing phase is planned to occur on a weekend.
The results of these tests will determine the fate of future public beta tests.
Good first question! We are looking at an early-to-mid summer weekend public test with both Arc, Windows 10, and Xbox One. We actually have our first Arc integrated build up and running for a Core playtest today, so we expect to be on track but specific dates are still TBD.
Depending how that weekend test goes we will evaluate the next steps for the public beta.
It is worth noting that our Core testing is still underway and will be ramping up here in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned and engaged with the community for a chance to be part of it. Or just bribe Evan.
And VP of Product Development at Motiga, Foehammer, recognizes that Gigantic did not get the media presence that it deserved. He is confident, though, that the game’s core gameplay, as well as the social functions it offers for players, give it an edge against its competitors.
We know we have some disadvantages in terms of name recognition so we have to make a better game than our competitors if we want to succeed. That’s just a reality we have to face. This is not just a matter of the core play experience, depth, and play balance, but also the social systems, rewards and achievements, competitive play, and most of all, community support. I believe there are several areas there where we can have an advantage. (Not gonna give any of my secrets away just yet, though!)
While some fans may not be pleased with the issue with monetization, Gigantic’s future overall seems to at least be hopeful. You can visit its official website here, where you can also sign up for chance to enter its beta. You can also follow its Twitter here.
We’ll close on the following quote from tionpenyo in the AMA. How you choose to interpret it is left to your discretion.
In terms of creative vision, we believe in what Motiga is doing and are excited to see the continued development of the game!